and the meshes of the law.  Once in the cars, he casts his eye around in uneasy expectation of finding some one or more of his neighbors bound on the same errand.  While yet peering over the seats in front of him, he is unpleasantly startled by a slap on the shoulder, and, “Ah, John! bound East?  What’s in the wind?  Any ducks in these days?” “Why,—­yes,—­no,—­that is, I’m going down along,—­little uncertain how far,—­depends on circumstances.”  “So, so,—­I see,—­mum’s the word.”  Well, neither is quite ready to trust the other,—­neither quite ready to know the worst; so long as a blow is suspended, it may not fall; and so, with desperate exertions, they change the subject, converse on things indifferent,—­or subside into more or less moody meditations upon their respective chances and prospects.

Any jobber who has seen service will tell you stories without number of these vexatious experiences, sometimes dashed with the comical in no common measure.  He will tell you of how they arrived at the last town on the railroad, some six or seven of them; of how not a word had been lisped of their destination; of the stampede from the railroad-station to the tavern; of the spirited bids for horses and wagons; of the chop-fallen disappointment of the man for whom no vehicle remained; of his steeple-chase a-bareback; and of their various successes with writs and officers, in their rush for the store of the delinquent debtor.  Of three such Jehus, the story goes, that, two of them having bought the monopoly of the inside of the only vehicle, and, in so doing, as they thought, having utterly precluded any chance for the third, their dauntless competitor instantly mounted with the driver, commenced negotiations for the horse, which speedily resulted in a purchase, and thereupon detached the horse from the vehicle, drove on, and effected a first attachment, which secured his debt.

The occurrence of “a bad year” compels many a jobber to abandon his store and home for one, two, or three months together, and visit his customers scattered all over the land, to make collections.  Then it is that the power of persuasion, if possessed, is brought into efficient use; discrimination, too, is demanded; good judgment, and power of combination.  For a debt that cannot be paid in money may possibly be paid partly in money, or in merchandise of some sort, and in part secured; and, among the securities offered, to choose those which will involve the least delay is generally no easy matter.

To those who, without experience, are commencing a jobbing-business, a capital of thirty, forty, or fifty thousand dollars seems an inexhaustible fund.  Experience teaches that an incautious and unskilful man may easily bury even the largest of these sums in a single season.  If not actually lost, it has in effect ceased to be capital, because it cannot be collected, and the notes he has taken are such as will not be discounted.